With the introduction of the single lug nut, there has obviously been a change to the wheel in NASCAR. Unfortunately, the thinner tyres led to multiple spins and flat tyres, as drivers are still getting used to them. The first two races of the NASCAR Cup Series season has proven that. In light of this, Dale Earnhardt Jr spoke about the issue of frequent flat tyres and sent out a warning against altering the cars to fix it.
He said, “I think that they probably would do better off by looking at the wheel and the tyre. I’ve seen a lot of suggestions. We’ve got to be careful about this. Whatever changes they make or propose to do to the car could affect the awesome product and racing that we saw on the racetrack. One of the things that I noticed during the race, was a lot of the cars are way up in the air on the front end. We’ve begged for years to get these cars off the ground. To unseal them from the race track, and we thought forever.”
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What else did Dale Earnhardt Jr say about the matter?
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According to him, no matter how much NASCAR changes the rules, the engineers’ job is to find loopholes and exploit them. He observed that the presence of the rear diffuser and the raised floor is creating more downforce. Additionally, this is also allowing the cars to race a lot closer together.
He continued, “Definitely needs to be well-thought out. Not a quick fix, be careful about this, because it it could hurt the actual racing product. Judging by everybody’s feedback, that was a really a great racing product on Sunday.”
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He acknowledged that there will always be turbulent air, but the new cars reduce the effect. However, Dale Earnhardt Jr warned that if NASCAR tried to alter the car in any way, it could undo all the hard work. He is worried that if they changed the bottom of the car, it could adversely affect the racing.